Cleansing apparatus

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for cleansing cable cores includes a cylinder with inwardly facing bristles and supported on rollers. The rollers are mounted in a spray chamber where the cleansing liquid is recirculated.

United States Patent [1 1 McCaslin Sept. 9, 1975 CLEANSING APPARATUS [56] References Cited [75] lnventor: Edward Alan McCaslin, Marion, UNITED A E ATENTS Ind. 1,676,825 7/1928 Haase 15/40 Assignee: The Anaconda p y, New 3,105,255 10/1963 Gannon 15/88 York Primary Examiner-Edward L. Roberts [22] Filed: Aug. 19, 1974 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Peimie & Edmonds 21 A 1. No.: 498,822 1 pp 57 ABSTRACT An apparatus for cleansing cable cores includes a cyl- [52] 3 3 inder with inwardly facing bristles and supported on 2 q i 15/40 104 rollers. The rollers are mounted in a spray chamber 1 0 are 1 where the cleansing liquid is recirculated.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures CLEANSING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the manufacture of electric cables of the type where a semiconducting polymeric jacket is extruded directly over a wall of high-dielectric strength oleflnic insulation the process of manufacture may be performed in two operations with the insulated conductor being taken up on reels that serve as pay-off supplies for the jacket extrusion machines. In the reeling, storing, setting-up, and paying off of the insulated conductors some contamination of the outer surface of the wall of insulation is inevitable, but, for high voltage cables such contamination is intolerable at the point where the insulated conductor pays into the extrusion head since a clean interfacial contact between the jacket and the insulation, having just the desired degree of adhesion, is essential. Prior means for wiping or cleansing the insulated conductors, at modern extrusion speeds, have not proven to be sufficiently reliable for the manufacture of high voltage cables.

SUMMARY My new apparatus for cleansing a continuously advancing elongated member comprises a chamber with front and rear Walls that define front and rear openings for the passage through the chamber of the elongated member and at least one spray head within the chamber for applying cleansing liquid to the member. My apparatus also comprises sump means collecting the liquid from within the chamber, means pumping the liquid from the sump means to the spray head and an open ended brushing cylinder mounted within the chamber for passage therethrough of the elongated member. The cylinder comprises inwardly extending radial bristles that are sufficiently long to brush the surface of the elongated member as it passes through the cylinder. The cylinder is supported on at least two horizontal rollers and is driven by frictional engagement with a horizontal roller for which my apparatus comprises driving means. The cleansing liquid may advantageously comprise a mixture of methyl alcohol and acetone and the cylinder comprise a plurality of radial channel clips, the bristles being mounted in at least two strip brushes that are removably supported in the clips.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 shows a sectional side view of the apparatus of my invention.

FIG. 2 shows a front view of the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows an enlarged pictorial view of the chamber of the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the elements of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT An apparatus, indicated generally, by the numeral includes a chamber 11 having front and rear walls 12, I3, side walls 14, 16, bottom 17 and lid 18 the walls 12, 13 have respective openings 19, 21 (FIG. 3) for the passage of an insulated conductor, not shown, into a jacketing extruder, also not shown in the drawings and not comprising any novel feature of the present invention. The walls 12, 13 support bearings 22, 23, 24 and 26, 27, 28, not shown, for rollers 29, 31, 32 of which the roller 32 bears a sprocket 33 whereby it is driven by a chain 34. The rollers 29, 31, 32 have layers of polyurethane rubber 36:, 37, 38 for supporting and turning a steel cylinder 39 with radial clips 41-41 supporting 4 strip brushes 42, 43, 44, 45 with radially inwardly extending bristles 46. This number of brushes is not, however, limiting and a greater or lesser number of at least two symmetrically supported brushes may be used. The brushes 42-45 are articles of commerce available from The Osborn Manufacturing Co. of Cleveland, OH. with bristles of different lengths. It is a feature of my apparatus that the brushes can be changed to fit different cable core sizes and to adjust to bristle wear, without any disassembly other than reaching into the cylinder 39 and removing the old brushes. Spray nozzles 47, 48 are disposed at either end of the cylinder 39 to deposit a spray of cleansing liquid on the cable core or other elongated member before and after the brushing operation. I have found that a mixture of equal volumes of acetone and methyl alcohol will cleanse an insulated conductor'of the usual factory contaminants such as oil and water. Where chemical contamination has presented a particular problem I have used toluene as the cleansing liquid. In the latter case, because of the deleterious effect on polyurethane rubber of toluene I have then used rollers free from rubber as shown in FIG. 4 where the cylinder is supported on brass collars 49-49, oversize collars 51, 52 on one of the rollers, such as the roller 31 restrain the forward or rearward movement of the cylinder 39. The floor 17 of the chamber 11 along with a pipe 53 serves as a sump for the cleansing liquid which is recirculated by a pump 54 through piping 56 to the nozzles 47, 48. The pump 54 is driven through a chain 57 by a motor 58 and I have found it convenient to mount a sprocket 59 on the pump shaft 61 to drive the chain 34 for the roller 32. A conventional liquid filter 62 for cleansing fluid 63 is connected by a horizontal pipe 64 to the pump 54 and to the pipe 56. A drain faucet 67 is provided to clear the sump for a change of fluid and valves 68, 69 are provided for the nozzles 47, 48. On leaving the apparatus 10 the insulated conductor passes through a rubber wipe 71 mounted in the opening 21. For my usual mixture of; acetone and methyl alcohol, foam polyurethane rubber serves excellently for the wipe 71. Where other cleansing agents, such as toluene, are employed a wipefmust be selected of a material known to be insoluble inthe selected agent.

In the use of my apparatus cable cores pass through at speeds of 25-100 feetiper minute. At the beginning of a series of runs a clean supply of cleansing liquid is introduced into the chamber 11 whence it feeds to the pump 54. I have found that the series of runs during a 24 hour shift constitutes a practical period for a change of liquid. The chamber 11 is inexpensively mounted on four angle columns 72-72 to which are welded or bolted steel platforms 73, 74 for the motor and pump. The extreme simplicity of my apparatus has enabled me to build it almost entirely of catalog components. The centerless mounting of the cylinder 39 does not require any bearings for the cylinder itself but I have found that sufficient traction is obtained from contact with the rollers or collars even without rubber layers (as in FIG. 4) to afford uninterrupted brushing of the insulated conductor.

The foregoing description of my apparatus has been exemplary rather than definitive of my invention for which I desire an award of Letters Patent as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for cleansing a continuously advancing elongated member comprising:

A. a chamber comprising front and rear walls defining radial bristles,- said bristles being sufficiently long to brush the surface of said member during passage through said cylinder,

E. at least two horizontal rollers, rotatably supporting said cylinder, and

F. means rotatingly driving at least one roller, said cylinder being rotated by frictional engagement with said driven roller.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said liquid is a mixture of acetone and methyl alcohol.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said cylinder comprises a plurality of radial channel clips and said bristles are mounted in at least two strip brushes removably supported in said clips. 

1. An apparatus for cleansing a continuously advancing elongated member comprising: A. a chamber comprising front and rear walls defining front and rear openings for the passage through said chamber of said member, B. at least one spray-head within said chamber for applying cleansing liquid to said member, C. sump means collecting said liquid from within said chamber and means pumping said liquid from said sump means to said spray-head, D. an open ended brushing cylinder mounted within said chamber for the passage therethrough of said member, said cylinder comprising inwardly extending radial bristles, said bristles being sufficiEntly long to brush the surface of said member during passage through said cylinder, E. at least two horizontal rollers, rotatably supporting said cylinder, and F. means rotatingly driving at least one roller, said cylinder being rotated by frictional engagement with said driven roller.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said liquid is a mixture of acetone and methyl alcohol.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said cylinder comprises a plurality of radial channel clips and said bristles are mounted in at least two strip brushes removably supported in said clips. 